I WARNED THEM. . . . . . .

I warned Kit and ken not to teach   (I’m not yelling at you’all – my caps key is stuck!!!!!)  anyway, I told them not to teach tucker how to use the doggie door.  I said they would be sorry – and so they are.   It took him a while cause he’s so tiny, but he goes in it easily, but is still a little reluctant to go out it -  why did I warn them?   Cause the doggie door is in their bedroom – and we get up earlier than they do.   The morning he finally figured it out – we were out at 6:30 a.m.   THEY USUALLY GET UP AT 8 -   OOPS, NOW THE FONT IS GROWING – GUESS I’LL HAVE TO GET A NEW KEYBOARD.  (THE KEYBOARD ON MY LAPTOP HAS TWO LETTERS STUCK, AND I DON’T LIKE USING IT ANYWAY CAUSE IT HAS A MIND OF ITS OWN – so i have a separate keyboard for serious typing)

ANYWAY, THEY NOW HAVE A LIVING, BREATHING ALARM CLOCK – HE PUSHES THROUGH THE DOOR, JUMPS UP ON THE BED, BESTOWS GOOD MORNING KISSES AND GENERALLY CREATES HAVOC!!!

this is tucker at their bedroom door before i let him out to the doggie yard

I’m going to try to post a video of tucker and christy playing tug-a-war here  Tucker loves playing with her – christy – not so much!  he is a real pest – biting on her feet to try to get her to run.  This is Christy and Tucker - posing so nicely!
 

I'm not sure this video will work - if not, i'll try it in a future post

 I put up my little "bedroom" tent on the patio to see how easy it would be (very) and tucker jumped right in it.  he's an excellent camper 

UPDATE ON kit’s quilt – we got all the fabric for the top, and I have all but two of the squares sets finished -   she has finally decided on the back – it will be southwestern  (if you remember, the top will be australian aboriginal prints – I’ll also make her a reversible wall hanging to coordinate.

 I set up my sewing machine and equipment on the patio when the weather was warm – then had to wait through the rainy days for warm weather to arrive again so I could work on Brooke’s placemats – they are ready to mail today.

My niece, Christine,  arrived from San Antonio last week for a visit.  It was interesting at the airport -  we pulled into an outlying parking lot – called a cell phone lot -  this was something new to me -  all the cars park facing a big sign giving the status of incoming flights -  when the flight arrived, Christine called us on her cell phone and told us which door she was at and we drove right up to the terminal to pick her up -   no frustrating driving around in circles or looking for parking spaces.   I’m sure those of you who have done a lot more flying than I have already experienced this – but it was new to me!   I thought it was very clever -  kudo’s to the person who thought it up!

on the way home, we stopped at a mexican restaurant for lunch -   the waitress is fixing "live" guacamole - made fresh at the table

Grandma kathy braiding christine's hair

Christine will be here through the chocolate festival – two years ago when I was here I promised i would go to the festival with her and her sister the next february – however, I didn’t make it the next year – Christine moved to Wisconsin – then over Christmas she moved to San Antonio  - I’m looking forward to spending some time with her when I’m in fredericksburg, tx.

Michelle, Christine’s sister is an art teacher at a local high school – the other day there was an art show of the teacher’s work -  Michelle had two  awesome pieces exhibited -  
 
 "Foothills"  (If you look closely, you       The piece on the right is:  "Mud, Sweat, and Tears"
can see the shadow of the cowboy on the rock)
The photo does not do it justice - cause in the
painting, you can see the sun shining on the 
distant hills


i got  a fair shot at this piece – everybody thought it was a photograph – nope – this is done by colored pencil!!!!  The artist is barbara dahlstedt who teaches at apollo high school.

 On the photo further down, notice the design on Michelle's t-shirt.   another teacher designed it, and michelle used the theme to design the program for the art show.  

Yesterday christy went to the groomers.  on impulse i left tucker, too – for a shampoo and to have his nails trimmed – THEY CLIPPED HIM!!!!!  what part of shampoo means clip???   the feathers are gone from his legs and belly and the beautiful long white hair – about 3 ½ “ long on his backside is gone -  his back view looks like a fat little bunny butt instead of the long flowing white locks.   I keep telling myself – it WILL grow back – it WILL grow back – it WILL grow back.   He was not happy about it – either,  usually if i’m away from him for any length of time he goes ballistic when he sees me -  not this time – when she handed him to me, he just tucked his head under my elbow in embarrassment – in fact, i was so concerned about that, i didn’t notice his clip until we got to the park to let them out for a run.  I should have wondered when i walked in to get him and the tech asked me what kind of dog he was. She probably thought he was just a run of the mill mutt and needed clipping - little did she know -  tucker is a purebred mountain (long hair) chichuahua!  (and I am a very proud "Mom")

WARNING -  HOUSEWORK CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH!!!!

kit was trying to get a spot off the carpet (it had just been cleaned the day before)  and managed to snag her finger and tear the tendon loose – she’s in a splint for a couple months.   about the same time, ken had some skin cancer removed from his face – they look like they’ve been battling  - and kit looks like she is flipping off everyone.

After the art show, we stopped out for dinner - here are my two nieces, Christine and Michelle

i went to visit my cousins', sharon and tim.   sharon is the family historian on my mother’s side.   i was also taking her the farm set that had belonged to my grandmother – sharon’s father had made it – don’t know how my mother ended up with it – but i figured it should go to sharon -  when  my four hermansen cousins – well at least the gals  heard i had it two years ago there was an uproar -  they all wanted it – they grew up in San Diego where my grandmother lived and all remember it with fond christmas memories (it was set up under the tree each year)  

 I can't for the life of me get these photos side by side  - I know it can be done - but no way is it happening now!  (Hey, my caps are working again - you'll be able to tell where I added comments after the initial typing)

I have one week left to gather what statistics i can of the family so i can start on my “book” for the family reunion.  I can do them here at kits since she has full membership

  I gave my grandmother’s wedding dress to cousin judy – i chose her because her son and daughter-in-law are very into history and will appreciate it.   In talking to my various cousins, i find that the next generation down, with few exceptions, does not have much interest in the family history.

a few days ago i gave a chocolate making class to a couple of kit’s neighbors.  what a hoot!   I enjoyed it cause i just showed them what to do and watched them do it.   It really got to be fun once the bailey’s came out!

 

 

During our lunch break, we ladies sat at the table telling hunting stories - yes, guys, i said hunting stories.  (and to my daughters, yes, a had some to tell, too)   anyway, one of the gals told about the time they were out hunting - she had a 410 shotgun.   they were standing next to the car when a nice buck strutted by - she reached through the window and got a couple shells from her purse (well, what can i say - we are ladies, after all)   she loaded, took careful aim,  pulled the trigger and.......................CLICK! nothing happened.   she placed the gun on the hood of the car, put her hands up and slowly backed away.  "I'm not touching that - something's wrong"  Her husband picked up the gun, broke it open and pulled out........................are you ready for this? a tube of hazel bishop lipstick!    

I believe I told you in my last post that i had installed the free kindle app on my computer.   I also said i still wanted to get a kindle so i could read in bed – but I’ve decided I like reading on the computer cause i can make the page full screen size -   my real interest is audio books, though – so I’m glad i waited to get a kindle – i bought an mp3 player instead -  $40 instead of the $300 for the bigger kindle!  I can live with that.    I installed the audible software and my first audio book – then i installed the software with my mp3 – then waited for my niece michelle to arrive to straighten everything out.    We had to uninstall both softwares – and, since i plan on just listening to books – we didn’t reinstall the mp3 software cause it was trying to take over everything – including my photos.   but now it is working great – i download books to my computer then transfer to the mp3  for listening.  Also, since i haven’t figured out all the ins and outs of the mp3 i transfer one part of the book at a time – otherwise every time i paused it – it would start up on a different section of the book.     

the weather here has been interesting to say the very least!   it was comfortably cool in december, then it got cold, then it got hot, then it rained – the dry riverbeds had flowing water in them – now it’s working up to warm again.   The temps at Demming are reasonable -  I’ll be leaving here next monday – (with a stop in tombstone, az)  the nights there are climbing into the low 30’s  we’ll be quite warm enough with that.

well, that catches me up for the time being.  

until the next time,

bear hugs

luv ‘n boots and tucker, too

and, of course, lil bear

she believed she could do it so she did

I WARNED THEM